Water and Fire: Book 1
by WardenN7
Summary: Sesi has spent her entire life in the Southern Water Tribe with her friend Katara, doing nothing but waiting for her father to come home and for the war to be over. Rei, a non-bender in an entire family of Firebenders, is forced from her home to go apprentice for a sword master who retired from the army. They never thought they'd be in the middle of a war. Zuko/OC Sokka/OC


**Water and Fire: Book 1**

_Hello, lovely people! This is my sister and I's first FanFiction story, so feedback will be greatly appreciated! Constructive criticism is welcomed, but, please, no flames. They don't help anybody._

_This will pretty much follow the main storyline of the show. A few things may be switched up every now and again, but nothing serious._

_Enjoy!_

_~~WardenN7 and WeighedEar_

_Disclaimer: We own absolutely nothing. The only things we own are our OC's Sesi and Rei._

**Prologue: Part One: Sesi**

She was so close to catching it. The blasted thing was only a couple feet away. All she had to do was jump out from behind the rock and grab it. That's all it would take. _She was so close_.

But what if she didn't catch it? What if she had come all this way for absolutely nothing? _You'll be punished, of course, _she thought. _You were supposed to do your chores and you decided to go catch penguins instead! _Sesi sighed. She knew she had to do chores, but sometimes more important things came up... like catching Otter Penguins. That was _always _important.

The eight-year-old took a deep breath and forgot all of her doubts. She forgot about her father and how he'd get that angry yet worried look in his eyes whenever she left the village without telling him. She forgot about her boring chores. She forgot about that annoying boy that dumped snow all over her head this morning. She even forgot about the loud noises coming from the village – they were probably just the other loud and obnoxious kids that lived in the Southern Tribe. _I wonder if the kids in the Northern Tribe are just as annoying? _she asked herself. _Probably._

She shook her head and held back a scowl when she felt droplets of water slide down her face. Now was not the time to think about revenge against that stupid boy. Besides, it was rather funny when his sister snapped at him and forced him to apologize. Sesi almost began to giggle at the memory of it, but caught herself at the last second. If she made any more noise the penguin would be frightened and run away.

Sesi climbed to the top of the rock (not that it was very big in the first place) and prepared herself for the jump. If she got just the right angle, she could leap on top of the penguin, securely capturing it while also cushioning its fall against the soft snow. Unable to suppress her triumphant smile any longer, Sesi leaped off the rock, letting out a battle-cry as she launched herself at the penguin...

… And landed face-first in the cold snow. Shivering, she brushed the snow off her body and glared towards the penguin. It must have noticed her while she was thinking on the rock and waddled away. Now it was staring at her, it's head cocked sideways in an almost innocent fashion, but Sesi knew that these penguins were far from innocent. They were evil and enjoyed mocking her.

Normally, Sesi would have sulked in the snow for the rest of the day, as was her custom on the days she wasn't able to catch a penguin, but her conscience wouldn't let her. She was supposed to do chores. There would be more time to hunt for penguins later. She stood up and began her trek towards the village, dusting off the remaining snow on her hair and face. It took only a few moments for her to slowly bring her hands back up to her face and for the realization to hit. When she saw the black snow on her gloves she knew something was wrong. Sesi had listened in on enough of her dad's conversations with the other men in the tribe to know that this was soot; something that many people feared in the Water Tribe.

Sesi felt like she couldn't breath, but that didn't stop her from running as fast as she could back to the village. She noted that most of the snow was covered in soot and it smelled like something was burning. It almost seemed funny that she hadn't noticed any of the signs until now, that she was so distracted by the penguin that she didn't even notice the snow turning black, but Sesi couldn't bring herself to laugh. Not now.

She needed to find her dad. She _had _to find her dad.

When she finally (after a lotof sprinting) made it back, Sesi was shocked by all the damage that had happened to the village. Most of the women were staring at the destruction, horror written clearly on their faces, clutching onto their children as they screamed or cried. Some of the men were on the ground, groaning and writhing in pain, and some of them weren't moving at all. Sesi was too frightened to go to them, to see if at least some of them were alive. She felt too numb to move.

One of those men could be her dad.

It was all too much to take. Everyone was either screaming or crying or whimpering in pain, but Sesi wasn't. At least, she thought she wasn't. She was too busy staring at everything else to notice if she was crying or not. She tried to take a deep breath, tried to forget everything like she did before, but all that came out was a frantic sort of gasp. She slowly lowered herself to the ground and hugged her knees, ignoring the burning in her eyes.

Sesi didn't know how long she sat in the snow; maybe a couple of minutes, maybe a couple of hours. She wasn't keeping track. She started when she felt arms wrapping around her waist – big, strong arms that held so much comfort that Sesi was almost sure it was her father – and moving her away from all the screaming and crying and _oh spirits there was so much crying._

The comforting arms left her waist and began to look her over, frantically searching for any signs of injury, and once she saw the man's face she knew that she had guessed correctly: it was her dad, and he had found her. He was okay. He wasn't hurt.

Sesi had never felt so relieved in her entire life.

He began to ask her questions – where had she been, and was she okay? – but they were coming out too quick for her to answer, and before she knew it he had pulled her into a bone-crushing hug before picking her up and carrying her away. Sesi took one last look at the village, buried her face in her father's shoulder, and wondered if maybe she should have ignored her conscience and continued to hunt for penguins instead.


End file.
